Of course anything can get distorted when it moves into the general population but I don’t think the original intent of trigger warnings or safe spaces was to insulate people from discomfort; instead I think the point is to increase access for people who might otherwise fall through the cracks.

A “safe space” as I have seen it used is intended to be a space (be that a club, an online message board, a dorm room, or whatever) for marginalized people to get a break from their marginalization. That means that they usually have rules against oppressive views and bigotry, and topics that are simply not up for…

I am always confused when people bring up protesting college speakers. Why is it free expression when a speaker comes to campus but oppression when students voice their disagreement?

Here’s a lovely explanatory video! It’s how I’ve stopped mixing it up (well, mixing it up less).

If you’d like to get really annoyed, there’s evidence that people make hiring decisions within seconds of meeting an applicant in person and there’s no particular evidence that in-person interviews lead to better hires.

I’m not saying that the advantage of good facilities would produce the same result as the advantage of good genetics; just that they are both advantages that are not uniformly available to all competitors. If one type of advantage is unfair, why not the other? Yet strangely no one is calling for us to standardize all…

I understand that most women would have to take testosterone in order to get to Semenya’s level of the hormone. That is not the same thing as having to take PED’s to get to her level of competition. Semenya isn’t breaking world records; she’s not even breaking the top 10 fastest times. She is a very fast runner but…

Why must we mitigate Semenya’s exceptionalism? The entire point of the Olympics (and all elite-level sports) is to celebrate that very exceptionalism. The way Semenya’s body is allows her to beat other women competitors. That makes her level the new standard; the goal others should be striving for.

Semenya’s genetics don’t put her on par with men. As I said, her gold-medal time wouldn’t have qualified for the men’s event. Hell, her time wouldn’t have been on par with the men unless we go back to 1912 and even then she would have barely made it to the finals.

Athletics are currently separated by gender (at least, that’s the intended division) in order to highlight the achievements of women. Allowing men to compete against women defeats the purpose. Forcing Semenya to compete against men also defeats the purpose, unless you think she is a man.

I’m aware that the amount of testosterone Semenya’s body produces is higher than is considered “normal” for women and apparently also higher than the IOC standard. But the amount of testosterone she produces, regardless of how it compares to other women or the IOC standard, is natural to her body. If it is decided…

So what do we with do about an athlete like Semenya who is a woman and better than her competitors but not on par with the competitors in the men’s event? Requiring Semenya to compete with the men effectively means she cannot compete (her medal-winning time in the 800 meters would not have qualified in the men’s…

There is no evidence that Semenya has testicles or is intersex. That assertion was provided by an anonymous source to one newspaper in Australia and has never been verified.

Where is this magical land where 34% of the women live where there isn’t sexism?

This is a perfect comparison.

Jesus fucking christ. No. What does that even mean? Clinton is a mother so her values are by definition those of a mother.

I agree. Just look at how great it turned out to have a Broadway show about Alexander Hamilton written by a Latino man and staring people of color!

Thank you for posting this trailer so I had an excuse to watch it again.

This is an interesting variety of “agree to disagree and move on”.

It’s code. The proponents of this ban are frightened of Muslims but they are aware enough to realize that explicitly stating that could be politically damaging. So they’re using different language with significant racial connotations; in this case, that brown people are dirty.